The Good Bottle
by lighteninglady
Summary: Jack's reflecting after the events of Chimera.


Disclaimer 'n stuff:

As always, I don't own anything and I'm not making any money.  If anyone happens to have a good sarcophagus out there anywhere though I'll gladly accept it and I'll write anything you want in return.

Thanks to my wonderful betas NG and Female Apophis.  Also thanks to my hubby(I am the best hubby ever.) for helping me put the finishing touches on this story.  

This will probably be the last story for a while until my bum arm heals up or someone gets me a sarcophagus.  ****

**The Good Bottle**

Jack filled his glass once more then replaced the bottle of scotch on his coffee table before leaning back against the cushions of his sofa.

He swirled the liquid in his glass and thought to himself irefully, 'what better reason to open the good bottle than this'.  He had just watched his last hope for love slip through his hands.  

Samantha Carter, the woman of his dreams.  The most unattainable woman on the planet.  The only woman he could ever see himself spending the rest of his life with.  The woman he thought he had an unspoken bond of the promise of a future with.  All dashed away by a cop from Denver.  An unbelievably 'perfect' cop from freaking Denver.

And the real kicker, the thing that he could in no way understand, was why on Earth this man was actually given the biggest secret on the planet.  Especially after having endangered them all during an especially delicate operation.  Just in order to smooth over a bump in their budding relationship.

Sure he wanted Sam to be happy… but they had all given things up for the good of the program, for the good of the entire human race.  And now to see this top secret information given out so easily just so one officer could have a relationship that had hardly even begun yet…  What the hell had Hammond been thinking?!  He slammed back the remainder of his glass and leaned forward for another refill. 

Jack's own dwindling marriage with Sara had effectively ended after his return to the Air Force to join the Stargate program.  Since then he had seen more hell than he'd ever imagined during his special ops days in that prison in Iraq.  He had actually been to hell at one time.  And that was one of the easier mishaps.  His own country had pretty much hung him out to dry on more than one account just to keep the program secret.

And Daniel… Daniel had lost so much since joining the SGC.  And he did it all to pursue a dream that had him laughed out of the archeological community.  A dream that he would probably never be able to tell anyone about.  He would go down in history as the quack archeologist who thought the Pyramids were from space and then disappeared, most likely to hide his own shame.  Even when the Goa'uld showed up on Earth and Osiris blew Dr. Steven Rainer across a temple they made up a cover story for him.  He, at least, could have been some help to the program with his area of expertise.  

At least Daniel now had Sarah back from the clutches of Osiris.  He hoped that in time they would heal and find happiness with each other… and comfort.  Comfort that Jack could only seem to find in the bottom of a bottle now.  

Teal'c had given up his entire people for a period of time to join the SGC in the battle against the false gods.  Even though he was a respected member of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex now, he was still basically living as a prisoner to the project.  When he did get to go out with friends he always had to hide his true identity under a hat in order not to raise suspicions.

Sure Sam had given up her fair share too.  She had to stand by and watch her own father almost die before they could tell him of the secret of what could save his life.  But why this Pete guy was so important that he now had the most guarded secret on the planet right in his back pocket… It was beyond Jack's comprehension.  

It was in the last mouthful from the last of his good bottle of scotch that it dawned on him.  It wasn't just the fact that Pete was now entrusted with this information that he hurt so badly.  It was the fact that this drink would be the only soothing warmth, the only comfort, the only constant that he would ever have.  

Sam was gone to him now… and so was his drive to keep going at this never-ending war too.  He was too old for this… for all of this.

As Jack rose from the couch and slowly began to make his way up to his bedroom his thoughts moved to the already typed up, signed and sealed letter of resignation that had sat in his safe for so long already.  Lying his head down on his pillow he looked at the empty pillow next to him and accepted the fact that the other pillow would remain empty even after his retirement.

With a shuddering sigh he fell into a dreamless slumber knowing that there was nothing left to dream or hope for.

***Author's note: To everyone I usually R&R, I'm still reading, keep up the good work.


End file.
